In the garment industry when garments, such as shirts, coats, blouses, etc., have been sewn and completed, they are normally hung on a garment hanger and stored on appropriate racks. The racks are conventionally of the fixed variety adjacent the finishing operations or they may be of the portable variety having rollers so they can be easily moved.
When garments on hangers are stored, they are usually packed tightly within the racks. In such case the mechanics of counting such stored garments for inventory control, orders or to prevent pilferage are performed manually. That is, each garment or hanger must be counted by hand which, due to human error and the packed condition of the garments, may often render the count inaccurate. In the case of the human count, a momentary distraction of the counter can cause a numerical error.
In addition, if a specific number of garments is to be transferred from one rack to another, each garment must be physically counted as well as moved. This again can result in a faulty count and also result in additional labor to make the count and move the garments and hangers.